Multiple forces try to break human trafficking pattern in O.C.

Je'net Kreitner, right, founder and executive director of Grandma's House of Hope, embraces one of the women in the shelter. Grandma's House caters to human trafficking victims, women with serious medical conditions, such as breast cancer, and woman who are homeless.ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Human trafficking watch list

Each year, the State Department ranks nations based on the strength of their anti-trafficking laws. The worst offenders in 2013 were:

Algeria

Central African Republic

China

Democratic Republic of Congo

Cuba

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Guinea-Bissau

Iran

Kuwait

Libya

Mauritania

North Korea

Papua New Guinea

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Sudan

Syria

Uzbekistan

Yemen

Zimbabwe

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the State Department's report is an important tool in fighting human trafficking. The most severe violators could face economic sanctions.

He added that the report treats both doesn't differentiate between allies like Saudi Arabia and non-allies, such as North Korea.

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WASHINGTON – For Rev. Paula Daniels, director of Forgotten Children Inc. in Huntington Beach, the pattern is all too common.

A teenage girl from a troubled home meets an older boy. They become friends. They begin dating. The girl may be in the foster care system. Often, she’s the victim of sexual abuse.

“He comes along as her rescuer,” Daniels said. He convinces her that they need to move away together.

That’s when the problems begin. He starts to tell her that if she truly loved him, she would prostitute herself. He monitors her location.

She has sex with 10 to 20 men each night to earn the $1,000 he demands before she’s allowed back home. If she doesn’t meet her quota, he beats her. She receives none of the money. She is totally dependent on him.

Daniels’ organization runs Rachel’s House, a safe house for victims of sexual exploitation. While the details differ for each woman, the pattern is the same.

“It’s important to understand the pattern,” Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, told the Register, to find ways to intervene, rescue the young women and bring down the perpetrators. Royce has met with trafficking survivors and heard their stories. Now he’s working to prevent future cases. His interest in human trafficking was sparked, in part, after his chief of staff, Amy Porter, saw young children being sold while she volunteered in India and Cambodia.

Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, last month hosted the first meeting of his Anti-Human Trafficking Advisory Committee in Rowland Heights. Members include federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies and service providers, including Daniels. The committee’s goal is to better serve trafficking survivors in Orange County and to make policy recommendations.

In Orange County, 213 human trafficking victims were identified in a study that examined cases from July 2011 to December 2012. Sandra Morgan, former director of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, said there are more cases now than when the task force was founded in 2004. But, she said, “It’s not an indicator that there’s more trafficking, it’s that we’ve increased our capacity to identify and intervene.”

Worldwide, human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry, according to the Washington-based Polaris Project, a nonprofit dedicated to combating trafficking.

It put tough penalties on traffickers – a life sentence when children are involved – increased fines and set up training for law-enforcement agents. Another change: Trafficking victims no longer face charges for prostitution.

Royce expressed interest in a provision of the CASE Act that allows fines collected from traffickers to fund survivor services.

SAFE, SECURE FACILITIES

Anaheim police Sgt. Craig Friesen says before the CASE Act, “the system gave up on” minors who had been trafficked. Now, instead of charging a minor who appears to be a victim of human trafficking with prostitution, the police summon a social worker and the youth is transferred to a shelter.

Friesen serves on Royce’s advisory committee and is an advocate for a secured shelter for underage victims in Orange County. Right now, the only secured facility for them is juvenile hall, but Friesen said juvenile halls don’t offer the treatment trafficking victims need.

A secured facility gives minors access to social services they need, prepares them to testify against the trafficker, and requires them to stay in treatment, headed for a fresh start. Staff at youth shelters, however, can’t stop the young women from returning to the streets.

THE HEALING PROCESS

Daniels and Je’net Kreitner, executive director of Grandma’s House of Hope, which has several homes in Orange County, both work to provide the support survivors need. The two women are on Royce’s advisory group.

Related Links

Je'net Kreitner, right, founder and executive director of Grandma's House of Hope, embraces one of the women in the shelter. Grandma's House caters to human trafficking victims, women with serious medical conditions, such as breast cancer, and woman who are homeless. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A possible victim of human trafficking who worked at an illegal massage parlor awaits transportation in a police vehicle in 2009. H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, hosted the first meeting of his Human Trafficking Advisory Council in Rowland Heights last month. Members include federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and service providers. Its goal is to better serve trafficking survivors in Orange County and to make policy recommendations. BULLIT MARQUEZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
André Birotte Jr., United States Attorney for the Central District of California, left, joined Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, center, Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, right, and others to talk about human trafficking and exploitation during the first Keep Calm and Beat H.E.A.T. Rocking & Rally at Twila Reid Park in Anaheim recently. JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Je'net Kreitner, center, founder and executive director of Grandma's House of Hope, prays with some of the women in the shelter. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Dana Cole, left, senior case manager at Grandma's House of Hope in north Orange County, talks with founder and executive director Je'net Kreitner, right. Cole helps field calls to the shelter, which on most days number more than 20. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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